I tried to install XAMPP 0.9 under Windows XP Professional, but all I get is an MSDOS screen popping up for a short while and than disappearing again, not leaving a (visible) trace of Apache.

When I type http://localhost in Internet Explorer I land on the XP serverpage (ISS). When I type http://127.0.0.1 I'm asked to type a username and password but I have no idea what username to use there?

I was using phpdev423 and wanted to try out xampp. I'm very familiar with how phpdev works, but I'm embarassed to say I can't even get http://localhost to work with xampp.

I uninstalled and stopped and disabled all services (apache, monitor, etc) associated with phpdev423) I downloaded the zip. I extracted it to C:\xampp. I ran the setup_xampp.bat. (Beautiful program btw)

Ok, so all looked fine from there. I opened my web browser and went to http://localhost and couldn't be found. Kinda stuck now. Any advice?

All right. When all else fails, start over. So I did. I re-unzipped the file. And then moved everything to c:\xampp, ran the installer, started apache. Good there. Next I go to a command prompt and ping localhost. Yeah! Comes back with packets ok.

Next, I go to web browser and type in http://localhost and nothing again - not found. Hummm? Not sure what to do now? Any suggestions?